United States of America
Flag Great Seal
Motto: In God We Trust  (official) E Pluribus Unum  (From Many, One; Latin, traditional)
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Capital		Washington, D.C. 38°53′N 77°02′W / 38.883, -77.033
Largest city		New York City
Official languages		None at federal level1
National language		English (de facto)2
Demonym		American
Government		Constitutional federal presidential republic
-	President	George W. Bush (R)
-	Vice President	Richard "Dick" Cheney (R)
-	Speaker of the House	Nancy Pelosi (D)
-	Chief Justice	John Roberts
Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain
-	Declared	July 4, 1776
-	Recognized	September 3, 1783
-	Current constitution	June 21, 1788
Area
-	Total	9,826,630 km² [1](3rd/4th3) 3,794,066 sq mi
-	Water (%)	6. Flags of the United States The Flag of the United States of America consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of Red (top and bottom alternating The Great Seal of the United States is used to authenticate certain documents issued by the United States federal government. A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group In God We Trust is the official National motto of the United States and the U E pluribus unum, Latin for "Out of Many One" is a motto found on the Seal of the United States, along with Annuit cœptis and Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history traditions and struggles of its people recognized either by a nation's " The Star-Spangled Banner " is the National anthem of the United States of America Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The United States is an urbanized nation with 808 percent of its population of 305186613 residing in cities and suburbs as of mid-year 2005 The City of New York An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory A national language is a Language (or language variant, ie Dialect) which has some connection - de facto or de jure - with English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a People or the inhabitants of a place Use of the word American in the English language differs according to the historic geographic and political context in which it is used For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. A constitutional Republic is a State where the Head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and A federal republic is a Federation of States with a republican form of government A presidential system is a System of government where an executive branch exists and presides (hence the term separately from the Legislature A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. The Vice President of the United States is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney (born January 30 1941 is the forty-sixth and current Vice President of the United States. The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer&mdashor speaker &mdashof the United States House of Representatives. Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born March 26 1940 is the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the U John Glover Roberts Jr (born January 27 1955) is the seventeenth and current Chief Justice of the United States. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, and approved by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, formally Events 36 BC - In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompeius Year 1783 ( MDCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 1788 ( MDCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. To help compare Orders of magnitude of different surface Areas here is a list of areas between 1 million km² and 10 million km² This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. Water is a common Chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of Life. In Mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a Fraction of 100 ( per cent meaning "per hundred" 76
Population
-	2008 estimate	304,296,000[2] (3rd4)
-	2000 census	281,421,906[3]
-	Density	31/km² (180th) 80/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2007 estimate
-	Total	$13. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology List of countries by population in 2005|List of countries by population in 1907This is a list of countries ordered according to Population. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume List of countries and dependencies by Population density in inhabitants/km² The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. 543 trillion[4] (1st)
-	Per capita	$43,444 (4th)
GDP (nominal)		2007 estimate
-	Total	$13. There are three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product (GDP (the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning for each head with Per meaning 'through' or 'by' This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product (GDP at Purchasing power parity (PPP Per capita 794 trillion[4] (1st)
-	Per capita	$43,594 (9th)
Gini (2006)		47. PLEASE NO RANDOM FIGURES THERE ARE NO FIGURES BASED ON NATIONAL STATISTICS IN THIS ARTICLE Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning for each head with Per meaning 'through' or 'by' This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product Per capita at Nominal values, the The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth 0[5]
HDI (2005)		0. The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP 951 (high[6]) (12th)
Currency		United States dollar ($) (USD "$")
Time zone		(UTC-5 to -10)
-	Summer (DST)	(UTC-4 to -10)
Internet TLD		.us .gov .mil .edu
Calling code		+1
1	English is the official language of at least 28 states—some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official. This is a list of countries by Human Development Index as included in the United Nations Development Program 's Human Development Report 2007 A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been ISO 4217 is the International standard describing three-letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established Daylight saving time ( DST A country This is a list of country calling codes defined by ITU-T recommendation E " English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii. The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i) is an Austronesian language that takes its name from Hawai'i, the largest island in the tropical The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the
2	English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 82% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language.
3	Whether the United States or the People's Republic of China is larger is disputed. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. The figure given is per the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all The World Factbook ( ISSN; also known as the CIA World Factbook) is an annual publication of the Central Intelligence Agency of the Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the fifty states and the District of Columbia, not the territories.
4	The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than four million U. S. citizens (most in Puerto Rico), or U. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} S. citizens living outside the United States.

The United States of America is a constitutional federal republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. A constitutional Republic is a State where the Head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and A federal republic is a Federation of States with a republican form of government A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government Federal districts are a type of Administrative division of a country under the direct control of that country's federal government The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity The term continental United States refers to the 48 contiguous states located on the North American continent south of the border with Canada plus the District Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Canada – United States border is the international Border between Canada and the United States. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait, and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending The Bering Strait (Берингов пролив Beringov proliv) is a sea Strait between Cape Dezhnev, Russia, the easternmost point (169°43' The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the An archipelago (ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ is a chain or cluster of Islands The word archipelago literally means "chief Sea " from Italian The United States also possesses several territories, or insular areas, scattered around the Caribbean and Pacific. Territories of the United States are one type of political division of the United States, administered by the U An insular area is a United States territory that is neither a part of one of the fifty states nor a part of the District of Columbia, the nation's The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting

At 3. 79 million square miles (9. 83 million km²) and with more than 300 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and third largest by land area and by population. This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. List of countries by population in 2005|List of countries by population in 1907This is a list of countries ordered according to Population. The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified American immigration ( emigration to the United States of America) refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States. ^[7] The U.S. economy is the largest national economy in the world, with a nominal 2006 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than US$13 trillion (over 19% of the world total based on purchasing power parity). The Economy of the United States is the largest national economy in the world The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. ^[4][8]

The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris (1783 recognized the The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 The East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard" refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern Proclaiming themselves "states," they issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The rebellious states defeated Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, the first successful colonial war of independence. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" The historical phenomenon of Colonisation is one that stretches around the globe and across time including such disparate peoples as the Hittites, the Incas and the ^[9] A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic. The Philadelphia Convention (now also known as the Constitutional Convention, the Federal Convention, or the " Grand Convention at Philadelphia The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec Year 1787 ( MDCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments, was ratified in 1791. In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known This is a complete full list of all ratified and unratified amendments to the United States Constitution which have received the approval of the Congress.

In the nineteenth century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. For the film see Louisiana Purchase (film. The Louisiana Purchase (French Vente de la Louisiane "Louisiana Sale" The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 settled a border dispute in North America between the United States and Spain. Oregon Country or Oregon (to be distinguished from the American State also called Oregon) was a predominantly American term referring to The Alaska Purchase (otherwise known as Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox) by the United States from the Russian Empire occurred in 1867 at the behest The Republic of Texas was a sovereign Nation in North America between the United States and Mexico that existed from 1836 to The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawai{{okina}}i from 1894 to 1898 when it was run as a Republic Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states' rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive The Northern United States is a large geographic region of the United States of America. States' rights refers to the idea in US politics and constitutional law, that U Slavery in the United States began soon after English colonists first settled Virginia in 1607 and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of slavery in the United States. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit Slavery, and with limited exceptions such as those The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the nation's status as a military power. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United States was the first country in the world to develop Nuclear weapons, and is the only country to have used them as actual weapons, The North Atlantic Treaty In the post–Cold War era, the United States is the only remaining superpower—accounting for approximately 50% of global military spending—and a dominant economic, political, and cultural force in the world. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the A superpower is a State with a leading position in the international system and the ability to Influence events and project power on a worldwide scale This is a list of countries by military expenditures using the latest information available ^[10]

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Geography 3 Environment 4 History 4.1 Native Americans and European settlers 4.2 Independence and expansion 4.3 Civil War and industrialization 4.4 World War I, Great Depression, and World War II 4.5 Cold War and civil rights 4.6 Modern era 5 Government and elections 5.1 Parties and politics 6 States 7 Foreign relations and military 8 Economy 8.1 Income, human development, and social class 8.2 Science and technology 8.3 Transportation 9 Demographics 9.1 Language 9.2 Religion 9.3 Education 9.4 Health 9.5 Crime and punishment 10 Culture 10.1 Popular media 10.2 Literature, philosophy, and the arts 10.3 Food 10.4 Sports 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

Etymology

The term America, for the lands of the western hemisphere, was coined in the early sixteenth century after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer and cartographer. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies West The Explorer and Cartographer Amerigo Vespucci ( March 9, 1454 - February 22, 1512) was the first person to demonstrate The full name of the country was first used officially in the Declaration of Independence, which was the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" adopted by the "Representatives of the united States of America" on July 4, 1776. The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a ^[11] The current name was finalized on November 15, 1777, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first of which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America. Events 655 - Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria. Year 1777 ( MDCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, also the Articles of Confederation was the governing Constitution of the alliance of thirteen independent and '" Common short forms and abbreviations of the United States of America include the United States, the U. S. , the U. S. A. , and America. Colloquial names for the country include the U. S. of A. and the States. Columbia, a once popular name for the Americas and the United States, was derived from Christopher Columbus. Columbia (kəˈlʌmbiə is the first popular and poetic name for the United States of America; it is also the origin of the name for the District Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer It appears in the name "District of Columbia". Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D A female personification of Columbia appears on some official documents, including certain prints of U.S. currency. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been

The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an American. Use of the word American in the English language differs according to the historic geographic and political context in which it is used Though United States is the formal adjective, American and U. S. are the most common adjectives used to refer to the country ("American values," "U. S. forces"). American is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States. ^[12]

The phrase "the United States" was originally treated as plural—e. g, "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit Slavery, and with limited exceptions such as those However, it became increasingly common to treat the name as singular—e. g. , "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard, while the plural form is retained in the set idiom "these United States. "^[13]

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United States and Territorial evolution of the United States

The United States is situated almost entirely in the western hemisphere: the contiguous United States stretches from the Pacific on the west to the Atlantic on the east, with the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, and bordered by Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. Area By This is a list of the evolution of the Borders of the United States. Topography ( topo-, "place" and graphia, "writing" is the study of Earth 's Surface features or those of Planets The term continental United States refers to the 48 contiguous states located on the North American continent south of the border with Canada plus the District The Western Hemisphere, also Western hemisphere or western hemisphere, is a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies West The term continental United States refers to the 48 contiguous states located on the North American continent south of the border with Canada plus the District The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Alaska is the largest state in area; separated from the contiguous U. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent S. by Canada, it touches the Pacific on the south and Arctic Ocean on the north. The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major Hawaii occupies an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America. The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the An archipelago (ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ is a chain or cluster of Islands The word archipelago literally means "chief Sea " from Italian The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area, before or after China. This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by total area. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The ranking varies depending on (a) how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and (b) how the total size of the United States is calculated: the CIA World Factbook gives 9,826,630 km² (3,794,083 sq mi),^[1] the United Nations Statistics Division gives 9,629,091 km² (3,717,813 sq mi),^[14] and the Encyclopedia Britannica gives 9,522,055 km² (3,676,486 sq mi). India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country ^[15] Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada. ^[16] The United States also possesses several insular territories scattered around the West Indies (e. Territories of the United States are one type of political division of the United States, administered by the U The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting g. , the commonwealth of Puerto Rico) and the Pacific (e. This article is about US insular areas For US States that designate themselves as "Commonwealths" see Commonwealth (United States. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} g. , Guam). Guam ( Chamorro: cha Guåhån) officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated

The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. Botany Autumn leaf color. See --> In Botany and Horticulture, deciduous Plants, including Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Appalachian Mountains ( often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. The Laurentian Great Lakes are a chain of freshwater lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border. The Mississippi-Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north-south through the heart of the country. The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to This is a list of the longest rivers on Earth. It includes river systems over 1000 kilometers The flat, fertile prairie land of the Great Plains stretches to the west. The Great Plains are the broad expanse of Prairie and Steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the continental United States, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. ^[17] The area to the west of the Rocky Mountains is dominated by the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Mojave. The Great Basin is a large arid region of the western United States. For the indigenous American tribe see Mohave. The Mojave Desert (moʊˈhɑːvi or /məˈhɑːvi/ ( Hayikwiir Mat'aar in Mojave The Sierra Nevada range runs parallel to the Rockies, relatively close to the Pacific coast. The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U The " West Coast " " Western Seaboard " or " Pacific Seaboard " are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the Western United States At 20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the country's tallest peak. "Denali" redirects here For other meanings see Denali (disambiguation. Active volcanoes are common throughout the Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and the entire state of Hawaii is built upon tropical volcanic islands. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the The Alexander Archipelago is a three-hundred-mile-long Archipelago, or group of islands off the southeastern coast of Alaska. The Aleutian Islands (possibly from Chukchi aliat, " Island " are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming a Volcanic The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature. A supervolcano or super volcanic eruption is a Volcanic eruption which is Orders of magnitude greater than any volcano in historic times (generally accepted to be ^[18]

Because of the United States' large size and wide range of geographic features, nearly every type of climate is represented. Climate encompasses the temperatures humidity rainfall atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorogical factors in a given region over long periods of The climate is temperate in most areas, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semi-arid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in Coastal California, and arid in the Great Basin. The Tropics are centered on the Equator and limited in Latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' (23 Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Regions with a polar climate are characterized by a lack of warm summers (specifically no month having an average temperature of 10 °C or higher A Semi-arid climate or steppe climate generally describes climatic regions that receive low annual Rainfall (250-500 mm or 10-20 in A Mediterranean climate is one that resembles the Climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes over half of the area with this climate type world-wide Coastal California refers to the coastal regions of the US state of California. In general terms the Climate of a local or region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available Water, to the extent of hindering Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the continental United States, primarily in the Midwest's Tornado Alley. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous Thunderstorms that produce strong winds and Flooding A tornado is a violent rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a Cumulonimbus cloud or in rare cases the base of a Cumulus For the book by William S Burroughs, see Tornado Alley (book. ^[19]

Environment

Main article: Environment of the United States

U. The Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a Bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and The Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is a Bird of prey found in North America that is most recognizable as the national bird and The environment of the United States comprises diverse biotas climates and geologies S. plant life is very diverse; the country has more than 17,000 identified native species of flora. In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all ^[20] More than 400 mammal, 700 bird, 500 reptile and amphibian, and 90,000 insect species have been documented. ^[21] The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 ( et seq or ESA is the most wide-ranging of the dozens of United States environmental laws passed in the 1970s

The U. S. has fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas. Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->The National Park System A wilderness area is a region where the land is in a natural state where impacts from human activities are minimal—that is as a Wilderness. ^[22] Altogether, the U. S. government regulates 28. 8% of the country's total land area. ^[23] Most such public land comprises protected parks and forestland, though some federal land is leased for oil and gas drilling,^[24] mining, or cattle ranching.

The energy policy of the United States is widely debated; many call on the country to take a leading role in fighting global warming. The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal state and local public entities in the United States, which address issues of energy production distribution Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the ^[25] The United States is currently the second largest emitter, after the People's Republic of China, of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide ( Chemical formula:) is a Chemical compound composed of two Oxygen Atoms covalently bonded to a single Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are fossil source Fuels that is Hydrocarbons found within the top layer of the Earth’s crust. ^[26]

History

Main article: History of the United States

Native Americans and European settlers

Main articles: Native Americans in the United States, European colonization of the Americas, and Thirteen Colonies

The indigenous peoples of the U. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492 although there was at least one earlier colonization effort The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris (1783 recognized the For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are thought to have migrated from Asia. Alaska Natives are Indigenous peoples of the Americas native to the state of Alaska within the United States. There are several popular models of migration to the New World proposed by the anthropological community They began arriving at least 12,000 and as many as 40,000 years ago. ^[27] Several indigenous communities in the pre-Columbian era developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous population. Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer First contact is a term describing the first meeting of two Cultures previously unaware of one another In the years that followed, the majority of the indigenous American peoples were killed by epidemics of Eurasian diseases. For the superstate in George Orwell 's novel see Nations of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ^[28]

On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La Florida"—the first documented European arrival on what would become the U. The Mayflower was the famous Ship that transported the English Separatists better known as the Pilgrims, from Southampton, England Pilgrims, or Pilgrim Fathers (or Pilgrim Mothers) is a name commonly applied to the early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of This article is about the Spanish explorer soldiers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesfor other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation A Conquistador Juan Ponce de León ( IPA: /xwan'ponʒedele'on/ (1460 – July 1521 was a Spanish Conquistador. The history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14000 years ago S. mainland. Of the colonies Spain established in the region, only St. Augustine, founded in 1565, remains. St Augustine is the County seat of St Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Later Spanish settlements in the present-day southwestern United States drew thousands through Mexico. The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal Fur. The Viceroyalty of New France (Nouvelle-France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the The Laurentian Great Lakes are a chain of freshwater lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The Colony of Virginia (also known frequently as the Virginia Colony and occasionally as the Dominion and Colony of Virginia) was the English colony Jamestown, located on Jamestown Island in the Virginia Colony, was founded on May 14 1607 A pilgrim is one who undertakes a Pilgrimage, literally 'far afield' Plymouth Colony (sometimes New Plymouth or The Old Colony) was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 until 1691 The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it was an English settlement on the east coast of North America History See also History of New England New England's earliest inhabitants were Algonquian -speaking Native Americans including the A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of Worship and Doctrine, Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, an estimated 50,000 convicts were shipped to England's, and later Great Britain's, American colonies. ^[29] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch established settlements along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk, the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that later became New York City. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The small settlement of New Sweden, founded along the Delaware River in 1638, was taken over by the Dutch in 1655. New Sweden ( Nya Sverige in Swedish and Uusi-Ruotsi in Finnish) was a small Swedish settlement along the Delaware River The Delaware River is a river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.

By 1674, English forces had won the former Dutch colonies in the Anglo-Dutch Wars; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. The Anglo-Dutch Wars ( Dutch: Engels-Nederlandse Oorlogen or Engelse Zeeoorlogen) were fought in the 17th and 18th centuries between England New Netherland (Dutch Nieuw-Nederland, Latin Novum Belgium or Nova Belgica) 1614–1674 is the name of the former Dutch territory on the eastern coast New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants—some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680. The history of the Southern United States reaches back thousands of years and includes the Mississippian peoples well known for their mound building An indentured servant is a form of Debt bondage worker The Laborer is under Contract of an Employer for some period of time usually three to ^[30] By the turn of the century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. The origins of Slavery in the colonial United States are complex and there are several theories that have been proposed to explain the trade With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. The Carolinas is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the states of North and South Carolina. The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule All had active local and colonial governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self government that stimulated support for republicanism. The Rights of Englishmen is a term that refers to the rights granted English subjects in the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and other Republicanism is the Ideology of governing a nation as a Republic, with an emphasis on Liberty, Rule of law, Popular sovereignty All had legalized the African slave trade. This article discusses systems of slavery within Africa the history and effects of the slavery trade upon Africa With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonies doubled in population every twenty-five years. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. Revival in a Christian context generally refers to a specific period of spiritual renewal in the life of the Church The First Great Awakening (referred to by some historians as the Great Awakening) was a period of heightened religious activity primarily in Great Britain and its In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. The French and Indian War (1754&ndash1763 was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War. The adjective francophone (alternately Francophone) means French -speaking typically as primary language whether referring to individuals groups or places By 1770, those thirteen colonies had an increasingly Anglicized population of three million, approximately half that of Britain. Anglicisation or anglicization (see -ise vs -ize) is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English Though subject to British taxation, they were given no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain. " No taxation without representation " began as a Slogan in the period 1763–1776 that summarized a primary grievance of the British Colonists The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland

Independence and expansion

Main articles: American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, and Manifest Destiny

Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. John Trumbull 's Declaration of Independence is a 12-by 18- foot oil-on-canvas in the United States Capitol Rotunda John Trumbull ( June 6, 1756 &ndash November 10, 1843) was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Year 1775 ( MDCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning in May 10 1775 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The American Continental Army was an Army formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America George Washington (February 22 1732 December 14 1799 served as the first President of the United States of America (1789&ndash1797 and led the Proclaiming that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights," the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The quotation "All men are created equal" is arguably the best-known phrase in any of America 's political documents as the idea it expresses is generally considered The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Declaration, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, pronounced the colonies sovereign "states. Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4 1826 was the third President of the United States (1801–1809 the principal author of the Declaration of Independence Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. " In 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted, uniting the states under a weak federal government that operated until 1788. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, also the Articles of Confederation was the governing Constitution of the alliance of thirteen independent and Some 70,000–80,000 loyalists to the British Crown fled the rebellious states, many to Nova Scotia and the new British holdings in Canada. This article concerns Loyalists in the American Revolution. For information on the role of those Loyalists in Canadian history after their emigration see United Empire Nova Scotia (ˌnəʊvəˈskəʊʃə ( Latin for New Scotland; Alba Nuadh Nouvelle-Écosse is a Canadian province located on Canada 's New France under British Rule See also Province of Quebec (1763-1791 In North America Seven Years' War officially ended with the signing of the ^[31] Native Americans, with divided allegiances, fought on both sides of the war's western front. Background When the American Revolutionary War began in 1775 the Ohio River marked a tenuous border between the American colonies and the American Indians of the Ohio

After the defeat of the British army by American forces who were assisted by the French, Great Britain recognized the sovereignty of the thirteen states in 1783. The Siege of Yorktown or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington France, despite its financial difficulties used the occasion of the American Revolutionary War (1776–1781 to weaken its arch-rival in European and world The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, and approved by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, formally A constitutional convention was organized in 1787 by those who wished to establish a strong national government with power over the states. The Philadelphia Convention (now also known as the Constitutional Convention, the Federal Convention, or the " Grand Convention at Philadelphia By June 1788, nine states had ratified the United States Constitution, sufficient to establish the new government; the republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and president—George Washington—took office in 1789. The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. The First United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government consisting of the United States Senate and the The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by New York City was the federal capital for a year, before the government relocated to Philadelphia. The City of New York In 1791, the states ratified the Bill of Rights, ten amendments to the Constitution forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections. In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the African slave trade only until 1808. Slavery in the United States began soon after English colonists first settled Virginia in 1607 and lasted until the passage of the Thirteenth Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the United States government, known as Congress The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the "peculiar institution. A slave state was a US state in which Slavery of African Americans was legal "(Our peculiar institution" was a Euphemism for Slavery and the economic ramifications of it in the American South. " In 1800, the federal government moved to the newly founded Washington, D.C. The Second Great Awakening made evangelicalism a force behind various social reform movements. The history of Washington DC (officially known as the District of Columbia is tied to its role as the Capital of the United States. The Second Great Awakening  (1790–1840s was the second great religious revival in United States history and consisted of renewed personal salvation experienced in revival Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel Reform Movement redirects here For specific organizations by that name see Reform Movement (disambiguation A reform movement is a kind

Americans' eagerness to expand westward began a cycle of Indian Wars that stretched to the end of the nineteenth century, as Native Americans were stripped of their land. This is a simplified list of United States territorial acquisitions, beginning with American independence. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 virtually doubled the nation's size. For the film see Louisiana Purchase (film. The Louisiana Purchase (French Vente de la Louisiane "Louisiana Sale" The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened American nationalism. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States of America and the British Empire, particularly Great Britain and her North American colonies The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation A series of U. S. military incursions into Florida led Spain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Spanish Cession includes land that makes up all of present-day Florida and parts of present-day Louisiana Mississippi and Alabama The country annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845. The Republic of Texas was a sovereign Nation in North America between the United States and Mexico that existed from 1836 to The concept of Manifest Destiny was popularized during this time. Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. ^[32] The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U. The Oregon Treaty, officially known as the Treaty with Great Britain in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains, Buchanan-Packenham S. control of the present-day American Northwest. See also Pacific Northwest The Northwestern United States comprise the northwestern states up to the western Great Plains regions of the United States The U. S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 cession of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The Mexican Cession is a historical name for the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Southwestern area of the United States could be defined as the states west of the Mississippi River, with the qualification of a certain northern limit such as the 37 The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 further spurred western migration. The California Gold Rush (1848&ndash1855 began on January 24 1848 when Gold was discovered by James Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California New railways made relocation much less arduous for settlers and increased conflicts with Native Americans. This article is part of the History of rail transport by country series Over a half-century, up to 40 million American bison, commonly called buffalo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The American bison ( Bison bison) is a Bovine Mammal, also commonly known as the American buffalo. The loss of the bison, a primary economic resource for the plains Indians, was an existential blow to many native cultures. The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America.

Civil War and industrialization

Main articles: American Civil War, Reconstruction, and Spanish-American War

Tensions between slave and free states mounted with increasing disagreements over the relationship between the state and federal governments and violent conflicts over the expansion of slavery into new states. The main explanation for the origins of the American Civil War was slavery, especially the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories. The free states of the United States existed in opposition to the Slave states prior to the American Civil War. States' rights refers to the idea in US politics and constitutional law, that U Bleeding Kansas, sometimes referred to in history as Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events involving Free-Staters Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the largely antislavery Republican Party, was elected president in 1860. Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal Before he took office, seven slave states declared their secession from the United States, forming the Confederate States of America. Secession (derived from the Latin term secessio is the act of withdrawing from an organization union or especially a political entity The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) formed as the government set up from 1861 The federal government maintained secession was illegal, and with the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, the American Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Background South Carolina declared its secession from the Union shortly after Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860, and by February 1861 six Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The Union freed Confederate slaves as its army advanced through the South. During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty-three The Emancipation Proclamation consists of two executive orders issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. The Union Army was the army that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U. S. Constitution ensured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,^[33] made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit Slavery, and with limited exceptions such as those The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first The Fifteenth Amendment ( Amendment XV) of the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States to prevent a citizen from voting based on that The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power. Political federalism is a Political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin foedus, covenant) with a governing ^[34]

After the war, the assassination of President Lincoln radicalized Republican Reconstruction policies aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves. Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor The City of New York The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, one of the last major events in the American Civil War, took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, when The Radical Republicans is a term applied to a loose faction of American politicians within the Republican party from about 1854 (before the American Civil War The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. Please DO NOT flip the colors --> The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and intense presidential elections in American history The Compromise of 1877 was an informal unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enacted primarily but not exclusively in the Southern and border states of the United States between 1876 and 1965 In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants hastened the country's industrialization. American immigration ( emigration to the United States of America) refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States. The technological and industrial history of the United States describes the United States ' emergence as one of the largest nations in the world as well as the most technologically The wave of immigration, which lasted until 1929, provided labor for U. S. businesses and transformed American culture. High tariff protections, national infrastructure building, and new banking regulations encouraged industrial growth. The 1867 Alaska purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Alaska Purchase (otherwise known as Seward's Folly or Seward's Icebox) by the United States from the Russian Empire occurred in 1867 at the behest The Wounded Knee massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. The Wounded Knee Massacre also known as The Battle at Wounded Knee Creek was the last major armed conflict between the Oglala Lakota and the United States In 1893, the indigenous monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a coup led by American residents; the archipelago was annexed by the United States in 1898. Ancient Hawaii refers to the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification of the Kingdom of Hawai'i by Kamehameha the Great in 1810. The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of O{{okina}}ahu, Victory in the Spanish-American War that same year demonstrated that the United States was a major world power and resulted in the annexation of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. A great power is a Nation or State that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP ^[35] The Philippines gained independence a half-century later; Puerto Rico remains a commonwealth of the United States. This article is about US insular areas For US States that designate themselves as "Commonwealths" see Commonwealth (United States.

World War I, Great Depression, and World War II

Main articles: American Expeditionary Force, Great Depression, and Military history of the United States during World War II

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF was the United States military force sent to Europe in World War I. The Military history of the United States during World War II covers the involvement of the United States during the Second World War. The Dust Bowl, or the dirty thirties, was a period of severe Dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many citizens, mostly Irish and German, opposed intervention. ^[36] In 1917, the United States joined the Allies, turning the tide against the Central Powers. The Entente Powers (from Triple Entente) were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The Central Powers ( German: "Mittelmächte" Hungarian: "Központi hatalmak" Turkish: "İttifak Reluctant to be involved in European affairs, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging on isolationism. Unilateralism ("one+side -ism " is any doctrine or agenda that supports one-sided action Isolationism is a Foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of Economic nationalism ( Protectionism ^[37] In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage. The Nineteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits each of the states and the federal government from Beginnings Lydia Chapin (Taft (February 2 1712 – November 9 1778 was a forerunner of women's suffrage in Colonial Partly because of the service of many in the war, Native Americans gained U.S. citizenship in the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Article I section 8 clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 also known as the Snyder Act, was proposed by Representative Homer P

During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity as farm profits fell while industrial profits grew. Roaring Twenties is a phrase used to describe the 1920s principally in North America, that emphasizes the period's social artistic and cultural dynamism A rise in debt and an inflated stock market culminated in the 1929 crash that triggered the Great Depression. A stock market, or (equity market is a private or public market for the trading of company Stock and derivatives of company The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the ’29 Crash, the Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of 1929, the Great Crash of October 1929 The Great Depression in the United States began on "Black Tuesday" with the Wall Street crash of October 1929 and rapidly spread After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy. The New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration. The Dust Bowl, or the dirty thirties, was a period of severe Dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and The nation would not fully recover from the economic depression until the industrial mobilization spurred by its entrance into World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United States, effectively neutral during the war's early stages after the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied Materiel (from the French "matériel" for equipment or hardware related to the word Material) is a term used in English to refer to the The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers during the Second World War. Lend-Lease (Public Law 77-11 was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union,

On December 7, 1941, the United States joined the Allies against the Axis powers after a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Axis powers also known as the Axis alliance Axis nations Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those Countries The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, as it was called by the Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise Military strike conducted by For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. World War II cost far more money than any other war in American history,^[38] but it boosted the economy by providing capital investment and jobs, while bringing many women into the labor market. Among the major combatants, the United States was the only nation to become richer—indeed, far richer—instead of poorer because of the war. ^[39] Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. The United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, commonly known as Bretton Woods conference, was a gathering of 730 Delegates from all 44 Allied The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and Codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February International Organization is a peer-reviewed Academic journal that covers the entire field of International affairs. The United States is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council. The Soviet Union took an active role in the United Nations and other major international and regional organizations As victory was achieved in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war. Victory in Europe Day ( V-E Day or VE Day) was May 7 and May 8, 1945, the dates when the World War II Allies The United Nations Conference on International Organization (UNCIO was a convention of delegates from 50 Allied nations that took place from 25 April The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city The United Nations Charter is the Treaty that forms and establishes the International organization called the United Nations. ^[40] The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war. The surrender of Japan in August 1945 brought World War II to a close Events 44 BC - Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. ^[41]

Cold War and civil rights

Main articles: Cold War, African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968), and Vietnam War

The United States and Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader " I Have A Dream " is the popular name given to the historic public speech by Martin Luther King Jr The North Atlantic Treaty The Warsaw Pact (see Nomenclature) was an organization of Communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. The United States promoted liberal democracy and capitalism, while the Soviet Union promoted communism and a centrally planned economy. The term "liberal" in "liberal democracy" does not imply that the government of such a democracy must follow the political ideology of Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based A planned economy or directed economy is an Economic system in which the Government or Workers' councils manages the Economy. Both the United States and the Soviet Union supported dictatorships, and both engaged in proxy wars. A proxy war is the war that results when two powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly United States troops fought Communist Chinese forces in the Korean War of 1950–53. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The Korean War refers to a period of military conflict between North Korean and South Korean regimes with major hostilities lasting from June 25 1950 until the The House Un-American Activities Committee pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, while Senator Joseph McCarthy became the figurehead of anticommunist sentiment. The House Committee on Un-American Activities ( HUAC or HCUA 1938–1975 was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14 1908 – May 2 1957 was an American politician who served as a Republican U

The Soviet Union launched the first manned spacecraft in 1961, prompting U. S. efforts to raise proficiency in mathematics and science and President John F. Kennedy's call for the country to be first to land "a man on the moon," achieved in 1969. John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of ^[42] Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War. Meanwhile, America experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement headed by prominent African Americans, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., fought segregation and discrimination, leading to the abolition of Jim Crow laws. The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enacted primarily but not exclusively in the Southern and border states of the United States between 1876 and 1965 Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson. The assassination of John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday November 22 1963 in Dallas Texas Origins The bill was introduced by President John F Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963, in which he asked for legislation "giving Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U. The Watergate scandals were a series of Political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the Indictment of several of Nixon's S. president to resign, rather than be impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power; he was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford. A resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one's office or position Impeachment is the first of two stages in a specific process for a legislative body to forcibly remove a Government official The crime of obstruction of justice includes crimes committed by Judges Prosecutors attorneys general, and elected officials in general Political power ( Imperium in Latin is a type of power held by a group in a Society which allows administration of some or all of The presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity death resignation or removal from office (by Impeachment Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr (July 14 1913 December 26 2006 was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 and the fortieth Vice President During the Jimmy Carter administration in the late 1970s, the U. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002 S. economy experienced stagflation. Stagflation is an economic situation in which Inflation and Economic stagnation occur simultaneously and remain unchecked for a period of time The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 marked a significant rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. Conservatism in the United States includes a variety of political ideologies including Fiscal conservatism, Supply-side economics, Social conservatism Reaganomics (a portmanteau of "Reagan" and "economics" refers to the Economic policies promoted by United States President Ronald ^[43] In the late 1980s and 1990s, the Soviet Union's power diminished, leading to its collapse. The Soviet Union 's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985

Modern era

Main articles: September 11, 2001 attacks and War on Terrorism

The leadership role taken by the United States and its allies in the United Nations–sanctioned Gulf War, under President George H. W. Bush, and later the Yugoslav wars helped to preserve its position as the world's last remaining superpower. The War on Terrorism (also known as the War on Terror) is the common term for the military political and legal, and ideological conflict and specifically for U George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12 1924 served as the forty-first President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 The Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts in the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY that took place between 1991 and The longest economic expansion in modern U. S. history—from March 1991 to March 2001—encompassed the administration of President Bill Clinton. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States ^[44] In 1998, Clinton was impeached by the House on charges relating to a civil lawsuit and a sexual scandal, but he was acquitted by the Senate and remained in office. Former President of the United States Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998 Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin on September 17, 1966, in Lonoke Arkansas) is a former Arkansas state employee who The Lewinsky scandal was a political Sex scandal emerging from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a then

The controversial presidential election of 2000 was resolved by a Supreme Court decision that effectively awarded the presidency to Texas governor George W. Bush, son of George H. The World Trade Center in New York City, United States (sometimes informally the WTC or Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Democratic candidate Al Gore, then Vice President, and Republican Bush v Gore,, was a United States Supreme Court case decided on December 12, 2000. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. W. Bush. On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D. Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The The World Trade Center in New York City, United States (sometimes informally the WTC or Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan The Pentagon is the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. C. , killing nearly three thousand people. In the aftermath, President Bush launched the War on Terrorism under a military philosophy stressing preemptive war now known as the Bush Doctrine. The War on Terrorism (also known as the War on Terror) is the common term for the military political and legal, and ideological conflict and specifically for U Preemptive war (or a preemptive strike) is waged in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived inevitable offensive or Invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in The Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related Foreign policy principles of United States president George W In late 2001, U. S. forces led a NATO invasion of Afghanistan, removing the Taliban government and al-Qaeda training camps. The War in Afghanistan, which began on October 7 2001 as the U The Taliban ( طالبان, also anglicised as Taleban; translation "students" is a Sunni Islamist, predominately Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war against the NATO-led force. Guerrilla warfare is the unconventional warfare and combat with which a small group of combatants use mobile tactics (ambushes raids etc

In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq on controversial grounds. " Regime change " is literally the replacement of one Regime with another some section heading moves the Contents box to the top of the article Lacking the support of NATO or an explicit United Nations mandate for military intervention, Bush formed a Coalition of the Willing, and the U. The term coalition of the willing is a post-1990 political phrase used to describe military or military/humanitarian interventions for which the United Nations Security Council S. invaded Iraq in 2003, removing President Saddam Hussein from power. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, from March 20 to May 1 2003 was spearheaded by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti ( Arabic: ar صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي --> April 28 1937 &ndash December 30 Although facing both external^[45] and internal^[46] pressure to withdraw, the United States maintains its military presence in Iraq. Iraq War|2007 in Iraq|2008 in IraqThe post-invasion period in Iraq The United States has been criticized for human rights violations in its pursuit of the War on Terrorism, including holding so-called enemy combatants at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for years without trial and for its alleged use of torture. Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled The term enemy combatant has historically referred to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is a controversial United States Detention center operated by Joint Task Force Guantanamo since 2002 in Guantanamo ^[47] In the upcoming 2008 presidential election, the Republican Party candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona, will face the Democratic Party candidate, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the first African American to head a major political party's presidential ticket. The United States presidential election of 2008, scheduled for Tuesday November 4 2008 will be the 56th consecutive The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union.

Government and elections

Main articles: Federal government of the United States and Elections in the United States

The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. The federal government of the United States is the central United States Governmental body established by the United States Constitution. The United States has a federal government, with elected officials at federal (national state and local level The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses A federation ( Latin: foedus, covenant is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal" It is a constitutional republic, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law. A constitutional Republic is a State where the Head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and Majority rule is a decision rule that makes one of two alternatives the "winner" based on which has more than half the votes The term minority rights embodies two separate concepts first normal individual Rights as applied to members of racial Ethnic, class religious linguistic or The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the Common law system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary "^[48] It is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy, though U. Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principles of the people's representatives S. citizens residing in the territories are excluded from voting for federal officials. ^[49] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the United States Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document and as a social contract for the people of the United States. Separation of powers, a term ascribed to French Enlightenment Political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the Governance Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. Political federalism is a Political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin foedus, covenant) with a governing The political units and divisions of the United States include The 50 states (four of these being officially styled as Commonwealths) which are typically Local government in the United States is generally structured in accordance with the laws of the various individual states. A county of the United States is a local level of government created as a subdivision of a state by the state government or by the federal or territorial government as a subdivision In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels. Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes Federal and state judicial and cabinet officials are typically nominated by the executive branch and approved by the legislature, although some state judges and officials are elected by popular vote. A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of Government, typically representing the executive branch.

The federal government is composed of three branches:

• Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation In Government, bicameralism (bi + Latin la ''camera'' chamber is the practice of having two legislative or Parliamentary chambers Thus a bicameral The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. Federal law is the body of Law created by the Federal government of a country A declaration of war is a formal performative Speech act or signing of a document by an authorised party of a government in order to initate a state of War The power of the purse is the ability of one group to Manipulate and control the actions of another group by withholding Funding, or putting stipulations on the use Impeachment is the first of two stages in a specific process for a legislative body to forcibly remove a Government official
• Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. In Political science and Constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the State. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by A commander-in-chief is the Commander of a nation's Military forces or significant element of those forces For other uses see Bill. A bill is a proposed new law introduced within a Legislature that has not been ratified, adopted The United States Cabinet (usually simplified as "the Cabinet" is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the Executive branch of the Federal government
• Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional. In Law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of Courts which administer Justice in the name of the sovereign or State The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. The United States federal courts are the system of Courts organized under the Constitution and laws of the Federal government of the United States Constitutionality is the status of a law, a procedure or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable Constitution.

The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. A congressional district is an electoral Constituency that elects a single member of a Congress. House seats are apportioned among the fifty states by population every tenth year. United States congressional apportionment is the redistribution of the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives among the 50 states in consequence As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. Each state has two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every second year. At-Large is a designation for representative members of a governing body who are Elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body (for example a city state The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. Term limits to offices in the United States: Historical background Term limits or Rotation in office, dates back to the American The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned by state. Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are The Electoral College consists of 538 popularly elected representatives who formally select the President and Vice President of the United States. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life. The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the U

All laws and procedures of both state and federal governments are subject to review, and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution by the judicial branch is overturned. The Supreme Court building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States. The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government, the relationship between it and the individual states, and essential matters of military and economic authority. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the United States government, known as Congress See also Habeas corpus Habeas corpus (/'heɪbiəs 'kɔɹpəs/ Latin for "you have the body" is the name of a legal action or Writ by means of Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the Judicial branch of the federal government. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of individual rights in the United States. In the United States the Bill of Rights is the name by which the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first

Parties and politics

Main articles: Politics of the United States and Political ideologies in the United States

Politics in the United States have operated under a two-party system for virtually all of the country's history. Politics of the United States takes place in the framework of a presidential, Federal republic where the President of the United States (the Head of A two-party system is a form of Party system where two major Political parties dominate voting in nearly all Elections at every For elective offices at all levels, state-administered primary elections are held to choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. A primary election ( nominating primary) also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a Jurisdiction select candidates A general election is an Election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election Since the general election of 1856, the two dominant parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824 (though its roots trace back to 1792), and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. The United States presidential election of 1856 was unusually heated The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The History of the United States Democratic Party is an account of the oldest Political party in the United States and arguably TalkDemocratic The History of the United States Republican Party is an account of the second oldest currently existing Political party in the United States Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20% of the popular vote. See also Third party (United States presidential candidates 2008 The term third party is used in the United States for a political party other than one Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T The United States Progressive Party of 1912 was a political party created by a split in the Republican Party in the presidential election of 1912. The United States presidential election of 1912 was fought among three major candidates two of whom had previously won election to the office

The incumbent president, Republican George W. Bush, is the 43rd president in the country's history. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. The President of the United States is the Head of state and the Head of government of the United States. All U. S. presidents to date have been white men. If Democrat Barack Obama wins the forthcoming presidential election, he will become the first African-American president. The United States presidential election of 2008, scheduled for Tuesday November 4 2008 will be the 56th consecutive Following the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party controls both the House and the Senate. The 2006 United States midterm elections were held on Tuesday November 7 2006. Every member of the U. S. Congress is a Democrat or a Republican except two independent members of the Senate—one a former Democratic incumbent, the other a self-described socialist. In Politics, an independent is a Politician who is not Affiliated with any Political party. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution An overwhelming majority of state and local officials are also either Democrats or Republicans. The following table shows all the US states and to what party ( Democratic or Republican) their state governors belong

Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered "center-right" or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered "center-left" or liberal, but members of both parties have a wide range of views. Political culture can be defined as "The orientation of the citizens of a nation toward politics and their perceptions of political legitimacy and the traditions of political Conservatism in the United States includes a variety of political ideologies including Fiscal conservatism, Supply-side economics, Social conservatism Modern liberalism in the United States, also referred to as American liberalism, is a political ideology that seeks to use the power of the state to effect change upon society In a May 2008 poll, 44% of Americans described themselves as "conservative," 27% as "moderate," and 21% as "liberal. "^[50] On the other hand, that same month a plurality of adults, 41. 7%, identified as Democrats, 31. 6% as Republicans, and 26. 6% as independents. ^[51] The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states are relatively liberal-leaning—they are known in political parlance as "blue states. The Northeast is a region of the United States. As defined by the U The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost The Laurentian Great Lakes are a chain of freshwater lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada–United States border. See also Electoral geography of the United States Red States and Blue States refer to those states of the United States of America " The "red states" of the South and the Rocky Mountains lean conservative. Politics of the Southern United States (or Southern politics) refers to the political landscape of the Southern United States. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost

States

Main article: U.S. state

The United States is a federal union of fifty states. A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government A federation ( Latin: foedus, covenant is a union comprising a number of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central ("federal" The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. The Thirteen Colonies were part of what became known as British America, a name that was used by Great Britain until the Treaty of Paris (1783 recognized the See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Most of the rest have been carved from territory obtained through war or purchase by the U. S. government. The exceptions are Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii; each was an independent republic before joining the union. Vermont ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The State of Hawaii ( or həˈwaɪʔiː Hawaiian: Mokuāina o Hawaii) is a state in the United States located on an Archipelago in the Early in the country's history, three states were created out of the territory of existing ones: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States The State of Maine ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The most recent state—Hawaii—achieved statehood on August 21, 1959. Events 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the De facto ruler of Japan. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the states do not have the right to secede from the union. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Texas v White, was a significant case argued before the United States Supreme Court in 1869 Secession (derived from the Latin term secessio is the act of withdrawing from an organization union or especially a political entity

The states compose the vast bulk of the U. S. land mass; the only other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. A capital territory or capital District is normally a specially designated Administrative division where a Country 's seat of Palmyra Atoll is an incorporated Atoll administered by the United States government. Territories of the United States are one type of political division of the United States, administered by the U The United States possesses five major territories with indigenous populations: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} The United States Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Caribbean that are an Insular area of the United States. American Samoa (Amerika Sāmoa or sm ''Sāmoa Amelika'' is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast Guam ( Chamorro: cha Guåhån) officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI is a commonwealth in Political union with the United Those born in the territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship. Birthright citizenship in the United States of America follows from a hybrid rule of Jus soli and Jus sanguinis.

Foreign relations and military

Main articles: Foreign relations of the United States and Military of the United States

The United States has vast economic, political, and military influence on a global scale, which makes its foreign policy a subject of great interest around the world. The foreign policy of the United States is highly influential on the world stage as it is a Superpower. The United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom WikipediaManual of Style (biographies#Academic titles --> James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951 is Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D. C. , and many host consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. Benjamin Franklin established the first overseas mission of the United States in Paris in 1779 However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, Sudan, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. Cuba and the United States of America have had an interest in one another since well before either of their independence movements North Korea–United States relations developed primarily during the Korean War, but in recent years have been largely defined by the United States' suspicions regarding The Kingdom of Bhutan (buːˈtɑːn is a Landlocked nation in South Asia. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES

American isolationists have often been at odds with internationalists, as anti-imperialists have been with promoters of Manifest Destiny and American Empire. Isolationism is a Foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of Economic nationalism ( Protectionism Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. American Empire is a term referring to the political economic military and cultural influence of the United States. American imperialism in the Philippines drew sharp rebukes from Mark Twain, philosopher William James, and many others. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering Later, President Woodrow Wilson played a key role in creating the League of Nations, but the Senate prohibited American membership in it. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28 1856—February 3 1924 was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 Isolationism became a thing of the past when the United States took a lead role in founding the United Nations, becoming a permanent member of the Security Council and host to the United Nations Headquarters. The United Nations Headquarters is a distinctive complex in New York City that has served as the headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1950 The United States enjoys a special relationship with the United Kingdom and strong ties with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Israel, and fellow NATO members. New Zealand-United States relations refers to international relations between New Zealand and the United States of America. The relationship between Japan and the United States of America is one of very close economic and military cooperation coupled with extensive cultural exchange Israel–United States relations have evolved from an initial United States policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1947 It also works closely with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. The Organization of American States ( OAS, or as it is known in the three other official languages OEA) is an International organization, headquartered The United States is party to many Free trade agreements (FTAs worldwide In 2005, the United States spent $27. 3 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world; however, as a share of gross national income (GNI), the U. Official Development Assistance (ODA is a category of Development aid. Gross National Income (GNI comprises the total value produced within a country (i S. contribution of 0. 22% ranked twentieth of twenty-two donor states. On the other hand, nongovernmental sources such as private foundations, corporations, and educational and religious institutions donated $95. 5 billion. The total of $122. 8 billion is again the most in the world and seventh in terms of GNI percentage. ^[52]

The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Building christening and commissioning The Ronald Reagan was the first aircraft carrier to be named in honor of a living former president An aircraft carrier is a Warship designed with The United States Secretary of Defense ( SECDEF) is the head of the U The Joint Chiefs of Staff ( JCS) is a group comprising the Chiefs of service of each major branch of the Armed services in the United States armed forces The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. The United States Department of Defense ( DOD or DoD) is the federal department charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in times of war. The United States Department of the Navy was established by an Act of Congress on April 30 1798 to provide administrative and technical support and civilian leadership In 2005, the military had 1. 38 million personnel on active duty,^[53] along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Reserve Components of the United States Department of Defense and United States Department of Homeland Security (in the case of the United States Coast Guard For the National Guard of a State and other countries' National Guard see National Guard. This is a list of countries sorted by the number of total troops within the command of that country including reserve forces that can aid a depleted active military and/or paramilitary The Department of Defense also employs approximately 700,000 civilians, disregarding contractors. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System. The Draft redirects here For other uses see Draft. Conscription in the United States has been employed several times usually during The Selective Service System is the means by which the United States administers military Conscription. The rapid deployment of American forces is facilitated by the Air Force's large fleet of transportation aircraft and aerial refueling tankers, the Navy's fleet of eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea in the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. A Marine Expeditionary Unit ( MEU, pronounced M-YOO formerly called Marine Amphibious Unit ( MAU) is the smallest Marine Air-Ground Task Force The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFLTFORCOM of the United States Navy is the part of the Navy responsible for operations in and around the Atlantic Ocean. The United States Pacific Fleet ( USPACFLT) is a Pacific Ocean Navy theater-level component command of the United States Navy, under the operational control Outside of the American homeland, the U. S. military is deployed to 770 bases and facilities, on every continent except Antarctica. The Military of the United States is deployed in more than 150 countries around the world with more than 369000 of its nearly 1 As Antarctica has never been permanently settled by humans there has historically been little military activity in the Antarctic. ^[54] Because of the extent of its global military presence, scholars describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases. "^[55]

Total U. S. military spending in 2006, over $528 billion, was 46% of the entire military spending in the world and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. (In purchasing power parity terms, it was larger than the next six such expenditures combined. The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. ) The per capita spending of $1,756 was approximately ten times the world average. ^[56] At 4. 06% of GDP, U. S. military spending is ranked 27th out of 172 nations. ^[57] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2009, $515. The United States military budget is that portion of the United States discretionary federal budget that is allocated to the Department of Defense. 4 billion, is a 7% increase over 2008 and a nearly 74% increase over 2001. ^[58] The estimated total cost of the Iraq War to the United States through 2016 is $2. The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign 267 trillion. ^[59] As of June 6, 2008, the United States had suffered 4,092 military fatalities during the war and nearly 30,000 wounded. Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common ^[60]

Economy

Main article: Economy of the United States

National economic indicators
Unemployment	5. The Economy of the United States is the largest national economy in the world Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. 5% May 2008[61]
GDP growth	0. 9% 1Q 2008[62] (2. 2% 2007[1])
CPI inflation	3. CPI redirects here For other uses see CPI (disambiguation. A consumer price index ( CPI) is a measure of the average price of consumer 9% April 2007–April 2008[63]
National debt	$9. The United States total public debt, commonly called the national debt, or U 407 trillion June 5, 2008[64]
Poverty	12. The most common measure of Poverty in the United States is the " poverty line " set by the U 3% or 13. 3% 2006[5][65]

The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where A mixed economy is an Economic system that incorporates aspects of more than one economic system Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified ( natural) form According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States GDP of more than $13 trillion constitutes over 25. The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) is an International organization that oversees the Global financial system by following the Macroeconomic 5% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP). Gross world product (GWP is the total Gross national product of all the countries in the world The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. ^[4] The largest national GDP in the world, it was slightly less than the combined GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2006. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in ^[66] The country ranks eighth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and fourth in GDP per capita at PPP. This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product Per capita at Nominal values, the This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product (GDP at Purchasing power parity (PPP Per capita ^[4] The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter. Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners. ^[67] The leading export commodity is electrical machinery, while vehicles constitute the leading import. ^[68] The national debt is the world's largest; in 2005, it was 23% of the global total. The United States total public debt, commonly called the national debt, or U ^[69] As a percentage of GDP, U. S. debt ranked thirtieth out of 120 countries for which data is available. ^[70]

The private sector constitutes the bulk of the economy, with government activity accounting for 12. 4% of GDP. The economy is postindustrial, with the service sector contributing 67. A post-industrial society is a society in which an economic transition has occurred from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy, a diffusion 8% of GDP. ^[71] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is finance and insurance. ^[72] The United States remains an industrial power, with chemical products the leading manufacturing field. ^[73] The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, and its largest consumer. ^[74] It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, aluminum, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP,^[71] the United States is the world's top producer of corn^[75] and soybeans. Agriculture is a major industry in the United States and the country is a net exporter of food ^[76] The country's leading cash crop is marijuana, despite federal laws making its cultivation and sale illegal. The legal history of marijuana in the United States mainly involves the 20th and 21st centuries Since the 20th century most countries have enacted laws affecting the legality of cannabis regarding the cultivation use possession or transfer of cannabis for recreational ^[77] Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world. Coca-Cola is a carbonated Soft drink sold in stores restaurants and Vending machines in more than 200 countries ^[78]

Three quarters of U. Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. S. business firms have no payroll, but they account for only a small fraction of business receipts. Firms with payrolls of 500 or more employ 49. 1% of all paid workers; in 2002, they accounted for 59. 1% of business receipts. ^[79] The United States ranks third in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index. The World Bank Group (WBG is a family of five International organizations responsible for providing Finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. ^[80] Compared to Europe, U. S. property and corporate income taxes are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption taxes are lower. Taxation in the United States is a complex system which may involve payment to at least four different levels of government and many methods of taxation ^[81] The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest by dollar volume; the exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext, represents over $29 trillion in total market capitalization of listed securities. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. NYSE Euronext Inc (formerly NYSE Group Inc and Euronext NV) is a Euro - American for-profit corporation that operates multiple Capitalization (or capitalisation &mdash see spelling differences) is writing a word with its first letter as a Majuscule (upper case letter A security is a Fungible, Negotiable instrument representing financial value ^[82]

In 2005, 155 million persons were employed with earnings, of whom 80% worked in full-time jobs. ^[83] The majority, 79%, were employed in the service sector. ^[1] With approximately 15. 5 million people, health care and social assistance is the leading field of employment. ^[84] About 12% of American workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe. Labor unions in the United States function as legally recognized representatives of workers in numerous industries ^[85] The U. S. ranks number one in the ease of hiring and firing workers, according to the World Bank. ^[80] Americans tend to work considerably more hours annually than workers in other developed nations, taking fewer and shorter vacations. Between 1973 and 2003, a year's work for the average American grew by 199 hours. ^[86] Partly as a result, the United States maintains the highest labor productivity in the world. However, it no longer leads the world in productivity per hour as it did from the 1950s through the early 1990s; workers in Norway, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg are now more productive per hour. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by ^[87] Spending on the social safety net is relatively low: the United States redistributes between 8 and 9% of GDP through social protection programs, slightly under the Japanese rate and less than half the estimated 19% of the European Union. The social safety net is a term used to describe a collection of services provided by The state, such as welfare, Unemployment benefit, Universal healthcare ^[88]

Income, human development, and social class

Main articles: Income in the United States, Income inequality in the United States, Poverty in the United States, Affluence in the United States, and Social class in the United States

Inflation adjusted percentage increase in after-tax household income for the top 1% and four quintiles, between 1979 and 2005 (gains by top 1% are reflected by bottom bar; bottom quintile by top bar). Income in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income, most commonly measured by household or individual, is distributed in an uneven The most common measure of Poverty in the United States is the " poverty line " set by the U Affluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given Reference group. There is considerable controversy regarding social class in the United States, and it remains a concept with many competing definitions ^[89]

According to the Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2006 was $48,201. The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census as defined in Title) is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census The median household income is commonly used to provide data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of Households earning less ^[5] The two-year average ranged from $66,752 in New Jersey to $34,343 in Mississippi. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States ^[90] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, these income levels are similar to those found in other postindustrial nations. The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. Household income is a measure of current private income commonly used by the United States government and private institutions Depending on the method of analysis, 12. 3% or 13. 3% of Americans were below the federally designated poverty line. The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of Income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate Standard of living in a given country ^[5][65] The number of poor Americans, at least 36. 5 million, was actually 3. 5 million more than in 2001, the bottom year of the most recent U. S. recession. ^[5][91] The United States was ranked twelfth in the world in the UNDP's 2008 Human Development Report. ^[92] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations, covering a broad range of factors, ranked the U. The United Nations Children's Fund (or UNICEF) was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946 S. next to last. ^[93]

Between 1967 and 2006, median household income rose 30. 8% in constant dollars, largely because of the growing number of dual-earner households. The term Constant dollars refers to a metric for valuing the price of something over time without that metric changing due to Inflation or Deflation. ^[5] Though the standard of living has improved for nearly all classes since the late 1970s,^[94] income inequality has grown substantially. The standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way these goods and services are distributed within a population Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income, most commonly measured by household or individual, is distributed in an uneven ^[95][96] The share of income received by the top 1% has risen considerably while the share of income of the bottom 90% has fallen, with the gap between the two groups being roughly as large in 2005 as in 1928. ^[97] According to the standard Gini index, income inequality in the United States is higher than in any European nation. The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth ^[98] Some economists, such as Alan Greenspan, see rising income inequality as a cause for concern. Alan Greenspan (born March 6 1926 in New York City) is an American Economist and was from 1987 to 2006 the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of ^[99]

While American social classes lack defined boundaries,^[96] sociologists point to social class as a crucial societal variable. Occupation, educational attainment, and income are used as the main indicators of socioeconomic status. The educational attainment of the US population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education ^[100] Dennis Gilbert of Hamilton College has proposed a system, adapted by other sociologists,^[101] with six social classes: an upper, or capitalist, class consisting of the wealthy and powerful (1%), an upper middle class consisting of highly educated professionals (15%), a middle class consisting of semiprofessionals and craftsmen (33%), a working class consisting of clerical and blue-collar workers who conduct highly routinized tasks (33%), and two lower classes—the working poor (13%) and a largely unemployed underclass (12%). Dennis Gilbert is Professor and chair of Sociology at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Hamilton College is a private independent liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York. The American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. Clerk, the vocational title commonly refers to a White-collar worker who conducts general office or in some instances sales tasks The concept of a lower class in the United States is used to describe those at or near the lower end of the socio-economic hierarchy. ^[96] Where it was once common for middle-class households to employ domestic servants, many domestic tasks are now outsourced to the service industry. ^[102] Wealth is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69. 8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share of any democratic developed nation. ^[103] The top 1% possesses 33. 4% of net wealth, including more than half of the total value in publicly traded stocks. ^[104] Though the American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high social mobility, played a key role in attracting immigrants to the United States, particularly in the late 1800s,^[105] some analysts find that the United States has relatively low social mobility compared to Western Europe and Canada. The American Dream is Belief in the Freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to achieve their goals See also Economic mobility Social mobility is the degree to which in a given society an individual's family's or group's social status Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' ^[106]

Science and technology

Main articles: Science and technology in the United States and Technological and industrial history of the United States

The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late nineteenth century. The United States came into being around the Age of Enlightenment (circa 1680 to 1800 a period in which writers and thinkers rejected the Superstitions of the past The technological and industrial history of the United States describes the United States ' emergence as one of the largest nations in the world as well as the most technologically Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr, January 20, 1930 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey) is an American Aviator A moon landing is the arrival of an intact manned or unmanned Spacecraft on the surface of a Planet 's Natural satellite. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout S. patent for the telephone. The modern telephone is the result of work done by many people all worthy of recognition of their contributions to the field The laboratory of Thomas Edison developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. Edison Township (usually known as Edison) is a township in Middlesex County New Jersey, United States. The phonograph, or gramophone, was the most common device for playing recorded Sound from the 1870s through the 1980s The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric Light that works by Incandescence, (a general The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device Though not a Movie projector —it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window In the early twentieth century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford pioneered assembly line manufacturing. Ransom Eli Olds ( June 3, 1864 – August 26, 1950) was a pioneer of the American Automobile industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile Henry Ford ( July 30, 1863 &ndash April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of An assembly line is a Manufacturing process in which parts (usually Interchangeable parts) are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned The Wright brothers, in 1903, made what is recognized as the "first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout There are conflicting views as to what was the first flying machine. "^[107] The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many important European scientists, including Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi, to immigrate to the United States. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical During World War II, the U. S. -based Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb The Atomic Age, also known as the Atomic Era, is a phrase typically used to delineate the period of history following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb The Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, computers, and many other areas. The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the Soviet Union and the United States, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975 Materials Science or Materials Engineering is an interdisciplinary field involving the properties of matter and its applications to various areas of Science and The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. The ARPANET ( Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) developed by ARPA of the United States Department of Defense, was the world's first operational The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks Today, the bulk of research and development funding, 64%, comes from the private sector. The phrase research and development (also R and D or more often R&D) according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers ^[108] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor. The impact factor, often abbreviated IF, is a measure of the Citations to science and social science journals. ^[109] Americans enjoy high levels of access to technological consumer goods. ^[110] Almost half of U. S. households have broadband Internet service. Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just Broadband, is high-speed Internet access—typically contrasted with dial-up access over a Modem ^[111] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food; more than half of the world's land planted with biotech crops is in the United States. Genetically modified (GM foods are food items that have had their DNA changed through Genetic engineering. ^[112]

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in the United States

As of 2003, there were 759 automobiles per 1,000 Americans, compared to 472 per 1,000 inhabitants of the European Union the following year. The Dwight D Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the Interstate Highway System (or simply the Interstate System) California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. ^[113] Approximately 39% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks. This article adopts the US Department of Transportation definition of passenger vehicle to mean cars and trucks used for passengers the term here excludes buses and trains A sport utility vehicle ( SUV) is a generic marketing description for a rugged automotive vehicle similar to a Station wagon but built on a light-truck chassis ^[114] The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes behind the wheel every day, driving 29 miles (47 km). ^[115] The U. S. intercity passenger rail system is relatively weak. ^[116] Only 9% of total U. S. work trips employ mass transit, compared to 38. 8% in Europe. ^[117] Bicycle usage is minimal, well below European levels. ^[118] The civil airline industry is entirely privatized, while most major airports are publicly owned. The five largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are all American; American Airlines is number one. American Airlines Inc (AA is a US -based airline and the world's Largest airline in total passenger miles transported and passenger fleet size ^[119] Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). ^[120]

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of the United States and Immigration to the United States

On October 17, 2006, the United States population was estimated by the U. The United States is an urbanized nation with 808 percent of its population of 305186613 residing in cities and suburbs as of mid-year 2005 American immigration ( emigration to the United States of America) refers to the movement of non-residents to the United States. Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. S. Census Bureau to be 300,000,000. ^[121] The U. S. population included an estimated 12 million unauthorized migrants,^[122] of whom an estimated 1 million were uncounted by the Census Bureau. Illegal immigration to the United States refers to the act of foreign nationals voluntarily resettling in the United States in violation of U ^[123] The overall growth rate is 0. Population growth is the change in Population over time and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals in a population using "per unit time" for 89%,^[1] compared to 0. 16% in the European Union. ^[124] The birth rate of 14. Crude birth rate is the natality or Childbirths per 1000 people per year 16 per 1,000 is 30% below the world average, while higher than any European country except for Albania and Ireland. This article is about the country in southern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Albania topics. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. ^[125] In 2006, 1. 27 million immigrants were granted legal residence. A United States Permanent Resident Card, also known as a green card, is an Identification card attesting to the Permanent resident status of an Alien Mexico has been the leading source of new U. S. residents for over two decades; since 1998, China, India, and the Philippines have been in the top four sending countries every year. ^[126] The United States is the only industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected. ^[127]

The United States has a very diverse population—thirty-one ancestry groups have more than a million members. The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified The ancestry of the people of the United States is widely varied and includes descendants of Populations from around the World, some presumably extinct ^[128] Whites are the largest racial group, with German Americans, Irish Americans, and English Americans constituting three of the country's four largest ancestry groups. German Americans ( German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of Ethnic German ancestry Irish Americans (Gael-Mheiriceánach are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. English Americans (occasionally known as Anglo -Americans although this may have a wider cultural meaning are Citizens of the United States whose ancestry ^[128] African Americans constitute the nation's largest racial minority and third largest ancestry group. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa ^[129][128] Asian Americans are the country's second largest racial minority; the two largest Asian American ancestry groups are Chinese and Filipino. Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Chinese Americans ( Chinese: 华裔美国人 are Americans of Chinese descent Filipino Americans are Americans of Philippine ancestry which trace back to the Philippines, an archipelagic nation in Southeast Asia. ^[128] In 2006, the U. S. population included an estimated 4. 5 million people with some American Indian or Alaskan native ancestry (2. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States Alaska Natives are Indigenous peoples of the Americas native to the state of Alaska within the United States. 9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and over 1 million with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0. "Kanaka" redirects here For the Tamil actress see Kanaka (actress. Pacific Islander (or Pacific Person, pl Pacific People, also called Oceanic[s] ' is a geographic term to describe the Austronesian 5 million exclusively). ^[129][130]

Hispanic American population growth is a major demographic trend. Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of Hispanic or Latino descent, which comprises ancestry or origins in Hispanic America The Demographic transition model (DTM is a model used to explain the process of shift from high Birth rates and high Death rates to low birth rates and low death rates The approximately 44 million Americans of Hispanic descent constitute the largest ethnic minority in the country. About 64% of Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent. See also History of Mexican-Americans Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican ancestry ^[131] Between 2000 and 2006, the country's Hispanic population increased 25. 5% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 3. 5%. ^[129] Much of this growth is from immigration; as of 2004, 12% of the U. S. population was foreign-born, over half that number from Latin America. ^[132] Fertility is also a factor; the average Hispanic woman gives birth to three children in her lifetime. The comparable fertility rate is 2. 2 for non-Hispanic black women and 1. 8 for non-Hispanic white women (below the replacement rate of 2. The total fertility rate ( TFR, sometimes also called the fertility rate, period total fertility rate (PTFR or total 1). ^[127] Hispanics accounted for nearly half of the national population growth of 2. 9 million between July 2005 and July 2006. ^[133] It is estimated on the basis of current trends that by 2050 whites of non-Hispanic origin will be 50. 1% of the U. S. population, compared to 69. 4% in 2000 (66. 4% in 2006). ^[134][129] They are currently less than half the population in four "minority-majority states"—California,^[135] New Mexico,^[136] Hawaii,^[137] and Texas^[138]—as well as the District of Columbia. For the use of the term minority-majority in the United Kingdom, see here Minority-majority state is a term used to describe a New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. ^[139]

About 83% of the population lives in one of the country's 363 metropolitan areas. See also Metropolitan Statistical Area, Core Based Statistical Area Table of United States Core Based Statistical AreasThe United States Census Bureau has defined ^[140] In 2006, 254 incorporated places in the United States had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than 1 million residents, and four global cities had over 2 million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston). An incorporated place, as defined by the US Census Bureau, is a type of governmental unit incorporated under state law as a city town (except the New England states The City of New York Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. ^[141] The United States has fifty metropolitan areas with populations greater than 1 million. See also Metropolitan Statistical Area, Core Based Statistical Area Table of United States Core Based Statistical AreasThe United States Census Bureau has defined ^[142] Of the fifty fastest-growing metro areas, twenty-three are in the West and twenty-five in the South. Among the country's twenty most populous metro areas, those of Dallas (the fourth largest), Houston (sixth), and Atlanta (ninth) saw the largest numerical gains between 2000 and 2006, while that of Phoenix (thirteenth) grew the largest in percentage terms. Phoenix (ˈfiːˌnɪks O'odham Skikik, Yavapai Wasinka, Western Apache Fiinigis, Navajo Hoozdo, ^[140]

Leading population centers
Rank	Core city	State	Pop. The A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government [141][143]	Metro area rank	Metro area pop. See also Metropolitan Statistical Area, Core Based Statistical Area Table of United States Core Based Statistical AreasThe United States Census Bureau has defined [142]	Region[144]		New York City Los Angeles
1	New York City	New York	8,250,567	1	18,818,536	Northeast
2	Los Angeles	California	3,849,378	2	12,950,129	West
3	Chicago	Illinois	2,833,321	3	9,505,748	Midwest
4	Houston	Texas	2,169,248	6	5,539,949	South
5	Phoenix	Arizona	1,512,986	13	4,039,182	West
6	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	1,448,394	5	5,826,742	Northeast
7	San Antonio	Texas	1,296,682	29	1,942,217	South
8	San Diego	California	1,256,951	17	2,941,454	West
9	Dallas	Texas	1,232,940	4	6,003,967	South
10	San Jose	California	929,936	30	1,787,123	West
2006 U. The City of New York Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West The City of New York New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The Northeast is a region of the United States. As defined by the U Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive Phoenix (ˈfiːˌnɪks O'odham Skikik, Yavapai Wasinka, Western Apache Fiinigis, Navajo Hoozdo, The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern The Northeast is a region of the United States. As defined by the U Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Western United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American West or simply the West &mdashtraditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost S. Census Bureau estimates

Language

Main articles: Languages of the United States and Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census)

English is the de facto national language. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. A national language is a Language (or language variant, ie Dialect) which has some connection - de facto or de jure - with Although there is no official language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—standardize English. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory Article I section 8 clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization In 2003, about 215 million, or 82% of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by over 10% of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught foreign language. A foreign language is a Language not spoken by the people of a certain place for example English is a foreign language in Japan. ^[145][146] Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. ^[147] Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law. The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i) is an Austronesian language that takes its name from Hawai'i, the largest island in the tropical ^[148] While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people ^[149] Other states, such as California, mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including court forms. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. ^[150] Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico. The Sāmoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language &mdash alongside English Chamorro ( Chamoru) is the native language of the Chamorro or Chamoru of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. Carolinian is an Austronesian language spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is an official language along with English and Chamorro

Religion

Main articles: Religion in the United States, History of religion in the United States, Freedom of religion in the United States, Separation of church and state in the United States, and List of religious movements that began in the United States

The United States government does not audit Americans' religious beliefs. Lightmatter Hsi Lai Temple 4jpg|thumb|200px| Hsi Lai Temple (lit The religious history of the United States begins more than a century before the former British colonies became the United States of America in 1776. In the United States Freedom of religion is a constitutionally guaranteed right provided in the religion clauses of the First Amendment. The Separation of church and state is a legal and political principle derived from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads "Congress Several Religions and religious movements and traditions were first established in the United States. The Bible Belt is an informal term for an area of the United States of America in which socially conservative Evangelical Protestantism is a ^[151] In a private survey conducted in 2001, 76. 5% of American adults identified themselves as Christian, down from 86. The largest religion in the United States is Christianity, with nearly 78 4% in 1990. Protestant denominations accounted for 52% of adult Americans, while Roman Catholics, at 24. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Roman Catholicism in the United States has grown dramatically over the country's history from being a tiny minority faith during the time of the Thirteen Colonies 5%, were the largest individual denomination. ^[152] A different study describes white evangelicals, 26. Evangelicalism is a theological movement tradition and system of beliefs most closely associated with Protestant Christianity, which identifies with the Gospel 3% of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort;^[153] evangelicals of all races are estimated at 30–35%. ^[154] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2001 was 3. 7%, up from 3. 3% in 1990. The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1. American Jews, or Jewish Americans 4%), Islam (0. The history of Islam in the United States starts in the early 16th century, with Estevánico of Azamor being the first Muslim to enter the historical record 5%), Buddhism (0. 5%), Hinduism (0. The advent of Hinduism in the United States has long been a subject for debate 4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0. Unitarian Universalism ( UUism) is a theologically liberal Religion characterized by its support for a "free and responsible search for truth 3%). Between 1990 and 2001, the number of Muslims and Buddhists more than doubled. From 8. 2% in 1990, 14. 1% in 2001 described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion,^[152] still significantly less than in other postindustrial countries such as Britain (2005:44%) and Sweden (2001:69%, 2005:85%). Agnosticism ( Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the Atheism Irreligion is a lack of religion indifference to religion or hostility to religion "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. ^[155]

Education

Main articles: Education in the United States, Educational attainment in the United States, and Higher education in the United States

American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. Education in the United States is provided mainly by government with control and funding coming from three levels federal, state, and local. The educational attainment of the US population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education Higher education in the United States refers to a variety of institutions of Higher education in the United States. The University of Virginia (also called UVa, UVA, Mr Jefferson's University, or The University) is a highly selective public research Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4 1826 was the third President of the United States (1801–1809 the principal author of the Declaration of Independence United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex Public education is education mandated for or offered to the children of the general public by the Government, whether national regional or local provided by an institution The United States Department of Education (also referred to as ED, for Education Department is a Cabinet -level department of the United States Children are obliged in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through 12th grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen. ( German, literally means "children's garden" is a form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling First grade (called Grade 1 in some regions is a year of Education in the United States and other nations Twelfth grade, (also known as senior year or Senior 4 in the U High school is the name used in some parts of the world (in particular Scotland, North America and Australia) to describe an institution ^[156] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Parochial school is one term used (particularly in the United States) to describe a school that engages in Religious education in addition to conventional Education Nonsectarian, in its most literal sense refers to a lack of Sectarianism. For the film of this title see Private School (film. Private schools, or Independent schools are Schools not administered Just over 2% of children are homeschooled. Homeschooling (also called home education) home learning or homeschool  – is the education of children at home typically by parents or professional ^[157] The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education, as well as local community colleges of varying quality with open admission policies. This is a list of American institutions of Higher education in the United States and abroad sorted by region A community college is a type of Educational institution. The term has different meanings in different countries Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84. 6% graduated from high school, 52. 6% attended some college, 27. 2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9. A bachelor's degree is usually an Undergraduate Academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three four or in some cases and 6% earned graduate degrees. ^[158] The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%. traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, ^[1][159] The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0. 97, tying it for twelfth-best in the world. ^[160]

Health

Main article: Health care in the United States

The American life expectancy of 77. Health care in the United States is provided by many separate legal entities Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age 8 years at birth^[161] is a year shorter than the overall figure in Western Europe, and three to four years lower than that of Norway, Switzerland, and Canada. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page ^[162] Over the past two decades, the country's rank in life expectancy has dropped from 11th to 42nd place in the world. ^[163] The infant mortality rate of 6. Infant mortality is defined as the number of deaths of Infants (one year of age or younger per 1000 live births 37 per thousand likewise places the United States 42nd out of 221 countries, behind all of Western Europe. ^[164] U. S. cancer survival rates are the highest in the world. ^[165] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;^[166] the obesity rate, the highest in the industrialized world, has more than doubled in the last quarter-century. Obesity is a condition in which excess Body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health may be negatively affected ^[167] Obesity-related type 2 diabetes is considered epidemic by healthcare professionals. Diabetes mellitus type 2 or Type 2 Diabetes (formerly called non - Insulin -dependent Diabetes mellitus (NIDDM or adult-onset diabetes is a metabolic In Epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people is a classification of a disease that appears as new cases in a ^[168] The U. S. adolescent pregnancy rate, 79. 8 per 1,000 women, is nearly four times that of France and five times that of Germany. ^[169] Abortion in the United States, legal on demand, is a source of great political controversy. Abortion in the United States is a highly-charged issue involving significant political and ethical debate Many states ban public funding of the procedure and have laws to restrict late-term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate a waiting period prior to treatment. While the incidence of abortion is in decline, the U. S. abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per 1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations. ^[170]

The United States healthcare system far outspends any other nation's, measured in both per capita spending and percentage of GDP. ^[171] Unlike most developed countries, the U. S. healthcare system is not universal, and relies on a higher proportion of private funding. Universal health care is health care coverage which is extended to all eligible residents of a governmental region In 2004, private insurance paid for 36% of personal health expenditure, private out-of-pocket payments covered 15%, and federal, state, and local governments paid for 44%. ^[172] The World Health Organization ranked the U. S. healthcare system in 2000 as first in responsiveness, but 37th in overall performance. The United States is a leader in medical innovation. In 2004, the U. S. nonindustrial sector spent three times as much as Europe per capita on biomedical research. ^[173] Medical bills are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the United States. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against ^[174] In 2005, 46. 6 million Americans, or 15. 9% of the population, were uninsured, 5. 4 million more than in 2001. The primary cause of the decline in coverage is the drop in the number of Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance, which fell from 62. 6% in 2001 to 59. 5% in 2005. ^[91] Approximately one third of the uninsured lived in households with annual incomes greater than $50,000, with half of those having an income over $75,000. ^[175] Another third were eligible but not registered for public health insurance. ^[176] In 2006, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate health insurance;^[177] California is considering similar legislation. ^[178]

Crime and punishment

Main articles: Policing in the United States, Law of the United States, Crime in the United States, Prisons in the United States, and Capital punishment in the United States

Law enforcement in the United States is primarily the responsibility of local police and sheriff's departments, with state police providing broader services. Policing in the United States is one of three major components of the Criminal justice system along with Courts and Corrections. The law of the United States was originally largely derived from the Common law system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary Crime in the United States is characterized by relatively high levels of Gun violence and Homicide, compared to other developed countries Prisons in the United States are operated under strict authority of both the federal and state governments as Incarceration is a Concurrent power Capital punishment of a Felon in the United States, in modern times is employed and in practice only in cases involving murder SHERIFF is a telecom fraud detection and management system originally developed by BT and MCI. State police are a type of sub-national Territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Marshals Service have specialized duties. At the federal level and in almost every state, jurisprudence operates on a common law system. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive State courts conduct most criminal trials; federal courts handle certain designated crimes as well as appeals from state systems. The United States federal courts are the system of Courts organized under the Constitution and laws of the Federal government of the United States In Law, an appeal is a process for requesting a formal change to an official decision

Among developed nations, the United States has above-average levels of violent crime and particularly high levels of gun violence and homicide. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Gun violence in the United States is associated with the majority of homicides and over half the suicides ^[179] In 2006, there were 5. 7 murders per 100,000 persons,^[180] three times the rate in neighboring Canada. ^[181] The U. S. homicide rate, which decreased by 42% between 1991 and 1999, has been roughly steady since. ^[180] Some scholars have associated the high rate of homicide with the country's high rates of gun ownership, in turn associated with U.S. gun laws which are very permissive compared to those of other developed countries. Gun politics in the United States, incorporating the political aspects of Gun politics, and firearms rights has long been among the most controversial and intractable issues In the United States of America, the protection against infringement of the right to keep and bear arms is addressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution ^[182]

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate^[183] and total prison population^[184] in the world and by far the highest figures among democratic, developed nations. Incarceration is the detention of a person in Jail or Prison. At the start of 2008, more than 2. 3 million people were held in American prisons or jails, more than one in every 100 adults. ^[185] The current rate is almost seven times the 1980 figure. ^[186] African American males are jailed at over six times the rate of white males and three times the rate of Hispanic males. ^[183] In the latest comparable data, from 2006, the U. S. incarceration rate was more than three times the figure in Poland, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country with the next highest rate. ^[187] The country's extraordinary rate of incarceration is largely caused by changes in sentencing and drug policies. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines are rules that set out a uniform sentencing policy for convicted defendants in the United States federal court system The drug policy of the United States is well represented by the declaration of a War on Drugs by President Richard Nixon in June 1971 ^[183][188] Though it has been abolished in most Western nations, capital punishment is sanctioned in the United States for certain federal and military crimes, and in thirty-seven states. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. Since 1976, when the U. S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year moratorium, there have been over 1,000 executions in the United States. Gregg v Georgia, Proffitt v Florida, Jurek v Texas, Woodson v ^[189] In 2006, the country had the sixth highest number of executions in the world, following China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan. ^[190] In December 2007, New Jersey became the first state to abolish the death penalty since the 1976 Supreme Court decision.

Culture

Main article: Culture of the United States

The United States is a multicultural nation, home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. The development of the culture of the United States of America — music, cinema, dance, architecture, literature, poetry The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified ^[7][100] There is no "American" ethnicity; aside from the now relatively small Native American population, nearly all Americans or their ancestors immigrated within the past five centuries. ^[191] The culture held in common by the majority of Americans is referred to as mainstream American culture, a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Western European migrants, beginning with the early English and Dutch settlers. Western culture (sometimes equated with Western Civilization) are terms which are used to refer to Cultures of European origin Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' The culture of England is sometimes difficult to separate clearly from the cultures of its neighbouring countries and to understand how these cultures intermingled and influenced A Dutch American is an inhabitant of the United States of whole or partial Dutch ancestry German, Irish, and Scottish cultures have also been very influential. German Americans ( German: Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of Ethnic German ancestry Irish Americans (Gael-Mheiriceánach are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. Scottish Americans or Scots Americans are Citizens of the United States whose ancestry originates in Scotland. ^[7] Certain cultural attributes of Mandé and Wolof slaves from West Africa were adopted by the American mainstream; based more on the traditions of Central African Bantu slaves, a distinct African American culture developed that would eventually have a major effect on the mainstream as well. Mandé is an Ethnic group of West Africa. Speakers of the Mande languages are found in Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau Bantu is the name of a large category of African languages It also is used as a general label for over 400 Ethnic groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, from Cameroon African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of African ethnic groups to the culture of the United States either as part of or distinct from ^[192] Westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. This article is about an ethnic culture in Louisiana USA For uses of the term "Creole" in other countries and cultures see Creole (disambiguation. Cajuns ('keʒən les Cadiens are an Ethnic group mainly living in Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles and peoples of other Spanish American ( Hispano Americano, derived from la ''[[Hispania]]'' The Culture of Mexico is a Latin American culture that reflects the complexity of Mexico's history through the culture of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Large-scale immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced many new cultural elements. The term Southern Europe can have four definitions geographical political climatic phytogeographic Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. More recent immigration from Asia and especially Latin America has had broad impact. Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry. They include sub-ethnic groups such as Chinese Americans Filipino Americans Indian Latin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the peoples of Latin America and includes both High culture (literature high art and Popular culture The resulting mix of cultures may be characterized as a homogeneous melting pot or as a pluralistic salad bowl in which immigrants and their descendants retain distinctive cultural characteristics. The melting pot is an analogy for the way in which homogeneous societies develop in which the ingredients in the pot (people of different cultures races and religions are The salad bowl concept suggests that the integration of the many different cultures of United States residents combine like a salad as opposed to the more prolific notion of ^[7]

While American culture maintains that the United States is a classless society,^[193] economists and sociologists have identified cultural differences between the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. This article is translated from and may fit related articles there better. The term socialization is used by sociologists, social psychologists and Educationalists to refer to the process of learning one’s Culture ^[194] The American middle and professional class has been the source of many contemporary social trends such as feminism, environmentalism, and multiculturalism. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and Social movement centered on a concern for the conservation and improvement of the environment. The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified ^[195] Americans' self-images, social viewpoints, and cultural expectations are associated with their occupations to an unusually close degree. ^[196] While Americans tend to greatly value socioeconomic achievement, being ordinary or average is generally seen as a positive attribute. The term Average Joe or Average Jane is used in the United States to refer to the average American. ^[197] Women, formerly limited to domestic roles, now mostly work outside the home and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees. The educational attainment of the US population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education ^[198] The changing role of women has also changed the American family. The development of the culture of the United States of America — music, cinema, dance, architecture, literature, poetry In 2005, no household arrangement defined more than 30% of households; married childless couples were most common, at 28%. ^[101] The extension of marital rights to homosexual persons is an issue of debate, with more liberal states permitting civil unions and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court having ruled that state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional in 2003. A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to Marriage. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ( SJC) is the highest Court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ruling In a 50-page 4–3 ruling delivered on November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that the state may not "deny Same-sex marriage in the US state of Massachusetts began on May 17, 2004, as a result of the Supreme Judicial Court ^[199] Forty-four states still legally restrict marriage to the traditional man-and-woman model. ^[200]

Popular media

Main articles: Cinema of the United States, Television in the United States, and Music of the United States

In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated the power of photography to capture motion. United States cinema has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century Television is one of the major major mass media of the United States. The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles The Hollywood Sign is a famous Landmark in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles California, spelling out the name of the area in high white letters Eadweard J Muybridge ( April 9, 1830 &ndash May 8, 1904) was an English photographer, known primarily for his early use In 1894, the world's first commercial motion picture exhibition was given in New York City, using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope. The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device Though not a Movie projector —it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window The next year saw the first commercial screening of a projected film, also in New York, and the United States was in the forefront of sound film's development in the following decades. A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image as opposed to a Silent film. Since the early twentieth century, the U. S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, California. Director D. W. Griffith was central to the development of film grammar and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as the greatest film of all time. David Llewelyn Wark "D W" Griffith (January 22 1875 &ndash July 23 1948 was a premier pioneering Academy Award -winning American Film director. In Film, film grammar is defined as follows A frame is a single still image George Orson Welles (May 6 1915 – October 10 1985 was an Academy Award -winning director, writer actor and producer for film stage radio and television Citizen Kane ( 1941) is an American Dramatic film, and the first Feature film directed by Orson Welles, who also co-authored ^[201] American screen actors like John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe have become iconic figures, while producer/entrepreneur Walt Disney was a leader in both animated film and movie merchandising. John Wayne ( May 26, 1907 &ndash June 11, 1979) was an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award -winning American Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson, June 1 1926 &ndash August 5 1962 baptized Norma Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Merchandising refers to the methods practices and operations conducted to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity The major film studios of Hollywood are the primary source of the most commercially successful movies in the world, such as Star Wars (1977) and Titanic (1997), and the products of Hollywood today dominate the global film industry. A major film studio is a movie production and distribution company that releases a substantial number of films annually and consistently commands a significant Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope (originally released as Star Wars) is a 1977 Space opera Titanic is a 1997 Disaster film directed written co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'' ^[202]

Americans are the heaviest television viewers in the world,^[203] and the average time spent in front of the screen continues to rise, hitting five hours a day in 2006. ^[204] The four major broadcast networks are all commercial entities. Americans listen to radio programming, also largely commercialized, on average just over two-and-a-half hours a day. ^[205] Aside from web portals and web search engines, the most popular websites are eBay, MySpace, Amazon.com, The New York Times, and Apple. A web portal is a site that provides a single function via a web page or site eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and MySpace is a popular social networking Website offering an interactive user-submitted network of friends personal profiles blogs groups photos music and Amazoncom Inc ( is an American electronic commerce ( E-commerce) company in Seattle Washington. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics ^[206] Twelve million Americans keep a blog. ^[207]

The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African American music have deeply influenced American music at large, distinguishing it from European traditions. Rhythm (from Greek ῥυθμός - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement symmetry" is the variation of the length and accentuation of Lyrics (in singular form Lyric) are a set of words that accompany music either by speaking or singing African American music (also called black music) is an umbrella term given to a range of Music and Musical genres emerging from or influenced by the The music of the United States reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and what is now known as old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular genres with global audiences. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression Old-time music is a form of North American Folk music, with roots in the Folk musics of many countries including England, Scotland, Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more Jazz was developed by innovators such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington early in the twentieth century. Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Louis Armstrong (August 4 1901 &ndash July 6 1971 nicknamed Satchmo or Sachimo and Pops, was an American Jazz Trumpeter Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader. Country music, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll emerged between the 1920s and 1950s. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the folk revival to become one of America's greatest songwriters and James Brown led the development of funk. Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s to mid-1960s James Joseph Brown Jr (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006 commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" the "King of Funk" and "The Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended Soul music, Soul More recent American creations include hip hop and house music. Hip hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a Music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with House music is a style of Electronic dance music initially popularized in mid-1980s Discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American pop stars such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have become global celebrities. Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29 1958 is an American musician entertainer and businessman Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16 1958 known as Madonna, is an American

Literature, philosophy, and the arts

Main articles: American literature, Visual arts of the United States, Theater in the United States, and American classical music

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American art and literature took most of its cues from Europe. American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. Sculpture of the United States Visual arts of the United States refers to the history of Painting and Visual art in the United States. Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition mostly borrowed from the performance styles prevalent in Europe American classical music is music written in the United States but in the European classical music tradition Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, South Dakota, is a monumental Granite sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941 located Writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau established a distinctive American literary voice by the middle of the nineteenth century. Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer Edgar Allan Poe (January 19 1809 – October 7 1849 was an American poet, short-story Writer, editor and Literary critic, Mark Twain and poet Walt Whitman were major figures in the century's second half; Emily Dickinson, virtually unknown during her lifetime, is recognized as America's other essential poet. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist Walter Whitman (May 31 1819 &ndash March 26 1892 was an American poet, Essayist journalist, and humanist. Eleven U. S. citizens have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, most recently Toni Morrison in 1993. The Nobel Prize in Literature (Nobelpriset i litteratur is awarded annually since 1901 to an author from any country who has in the words from the will of Alfred Toni Morrison (born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18 1931 is a Nobel Prize -winning American author editor and professor Ernest Hemingway, the 1954 Nobel laureate, is often named as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21 1899 — July 2 1961 was an American novelist short-story writer, and Journalist. ^[208] A work seen as capturing fundamental aspects of the national experience and character—such as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925)—may be dubbed the "Great American Novel. Herman Melville (August 1 1819 &ndash September 28 1891 was an American novelist Short story writer Essayist and poet Moby-Dick is an 1851 Novel by Herman Melville. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael and his voyage on the whaleship Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (often shortened to Huck Finn) is a novel written by American Humorist Mark Twain. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24 1896 – December 21 1940 was an American writer of Novels and Short stories, whose works are evocative of the The Great Gatsby is a Novel by the American author F Scott Fitzgerald. The " Great American Novel " is the concept of a Novel that most perfectly represents the spirit of life in the United States at the time of its writing " Popular literary genres such as the Western and hardboiled crime fiction developed in the United States. Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West between the years of 1860 and 1900 Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the

The transcendentalists, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau, established the first major American philosophical movement. Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century A philosophical movement is either the appearance or increased popularity of a specific school of Philosophy, or a fairly broad but identifiable sea-change in philosophical thought After the Civil War, Charles Peirce and then William James and John Dewey were leaders in the development of pragmatism. Charles Sanders Peirce (pronounced purse) (September 10 1839 &ndash April 19 1914 was an American Logician mathematician, philosopher For other people named William James see William James (disambiguation William James (January 11 1842 – August 26 1910 was a pioneering John Dewey (October 20 1859 &ndash June 1 1952 was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have Pragmatism generally considered to have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Peirce, who first stated the Pragmatic maxim. In the twentieth century, the work of W. V. Quine and Richard Rorty helped bring analytic philosophy to the fore in U. Willard Van Orman Quine (June 25 1908 Akron, Ohio &ndash December 25 2000 (known to intimates as "Van" Richard McKay Rorty (October 4 1931 - June 8 2007 was an American Philosopher. Analytic philosophy (sometimes analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of Philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century S. academic circles.

In the visual arts, the Hudson River School was an important mid-nineteenth-century movement in the tradition of European naturalism. The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting The 1913 Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European modernist art, shocked the public and transformed the U. Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of US National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the International Exhibition History of Modern art Roots in the 19th century Although modern Sculpture and Architecture are reckoned to have emerged at the end of the nineteenth S. art scene. ^[209] Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and others experimented with new styles, displaying a highly individualistic sensibility. Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15 1887—March 6 1986 was an American Artist She is associated with the American Southwest where she found artistic inspiration Marsden Hartley (January 4 1877 - September 2 1943 was an American Modernist painter and poet in the early 20th century Major artistic movements such as the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning and the pop art of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein have developed largely in the United States. Abstract expressionism was an American post– World War II Art movement. Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28 1912 &ndash August 11 1956 was an influential American painter and a major force in the abstract expressionist movement Willem de Kooning (April 24 1904 – March 19 1997 was an Abstract expressionist painter born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands Pop Art is a visual Art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in parallel in the late 1950s in the United States. For the song by David Bowie, see Andy Warhol (song. Andrew Warhola (August 6 1928 &ndash February 22 1987 known as Andy Warhol Roy Fox Lichtenstein (October 27 1923 &ndash September 29 1997 was a prominent American Pop artist his work heavily influenced by both popular advertising and The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has also brought American architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry to the top of their field. Postmodernism literally means 'after the modernist movement' While " Modern " itself refers to something "related to the present" the movement of modernism Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8 1867 &ndash April 9 1959 was an American (of Welsh descent Architect, Interior designer, Writer, and educator who Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8 1906&ndash January 25 2005 was an influential American Architect. Frank Owen Gehry CC (born Ephraim Owen Goldberg, February 28, 1929) is a Pritzker Prize -winning Architect

One of the first notable promoters of the nascent American theater was impresario P. T. Barnum, who began operating a lower Manhattan entertainment complex in 1841. Phineas Taylor Barnum (July 5 1810 &ndash April 7 1891 was an American Showman remembered for Hoaxes and for founding the Circus that became the Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York The team of Harrigan and Hart produced a series of popular musical comedies in New York starting in the late 1870s. Edward Harrigan (October 26 1844 – June 6 1911 was an American actor playwright theatre manager and Composer. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. In the twentieth century, the modern musical form emerged on Broadway; the songs of musical theater composers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim have become pop standards. Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located Irving Berlin (11 May 1888 &ndash 22 September 1989 was a Russian-born American Composer and Lyricist, and one of the most prolific American songwriters Cole Albert Porter (June 9 1891 &ndash October 15 1964 was an American Composer and songwriter from Peru, Indiana. Stephen Joshua Sondheim (born March 22 1930 is an American musical and film composer and lyricist winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven Traditional pop or Classic pop or Standards music denotes in general Western (and particularly American popular music that either wholly predates the advent of Playwright Eugene O'Neill won the Nobel literature prize in 1936; other acclaimed U. Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16 1888–November 27 1953 was a Nobel -prize winning American playwright S. dramatists include multiple Pulitzer Prize winners Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, and August Wilson. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918 From 1918 to 2006 the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes during these years the Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26 1911 &ndash February 25 1983 better known as Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright who received many of the top theatrical Edward Franklin Albee III ( "AWL-bee" born March 12 1928 is a three time Pulitzer Prize winning American playwright known for works including August Wilson ( April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American Playwright.

Though largely overlooked at the time, Charles Ives' work of the 1910s established him as the first major U. Charles Edward Ives (October 20 1874 – May 19 1954 was an American Composer of modernist Classical music. S. composer in the classical tradition; other experimentalists such as Henry Cowell and John Cage created an identifiably American approach to classical composition. Henry Cowell ( March 11, 1897 – December 10, 1965) was an American Composer, musical theorist, Pianist WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> John Milton Cage Jr Aaron Copland and George Gershwin developed a unique American synthesis of popular and classical music. Aaron Copland (November 14 1900 &ndash December 2 1990 was an American Composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished Pianist. George Gershwin (September 26 1898 &ndash July 11 1937 was an American Composer. Choreographers Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham were central figures in the creation of modern dance; George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins were leaders in twentieth-century ballet. See also, Choreography (literally "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" (circular dance see chorea) and "γραφή" Isadora Duncan (May 26 1877 &ndash September 14 1927 was an American dancer See also Martha Graham ( May 11, 1894 &ndash April 1, 1991) was an American Dancer and Choreographer See also Dance, Concert dance Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century See also List of ballets by George Balanchine, George Balanchine (January 22 1904 &ndash April 30 1983 born Giorgi Melitonis dze Balanchivadze Jerome Robbins (11 October 1918 – 29 July 1998 was an American film director and Choreographer whose work has included everything from classical ballet to The United States has long been at the fore in the relatively modern artistic medium of photography, with major practitioners such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Ansel Adams, and many others. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing Alfred Stieglitz (January 1 1864 &ndash July 13 1946 was an American photographer who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making Photography an acceptable Edward Steichen (March 27 1879 – March 25 1973 was an American photographer, painter, and Art gallery and Museum curator born Ansel Easton Adams (February 20 1902 – April 22 1984 was a legendary American Photographer and Environmentalist, best known for his Black-and-white The newspaper comic strip and the comic book are both U. A comic strip is a sequence of drawings that tells a story Currently in the Western world, most comic strips are written and drawn by a Comics artist An American comic book is a small Magazine originating in the United States and containing a Narrative in the Comics form S. innovations. Superman, the quintessential comic book superhero, has become an American icon. Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do

Food

Main article: Cuisine of the United States

Mainstream American culinary arts are similar to those in other Western countries. The cuisine of the United States is a style of food preparation derived from the United States. An apple pie is a fruit Pie (or Tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples (Cooking Apples Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each Flags of the United States The Flag of the United States of America consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of Red (top and bottom alternating Wheat is the primary cereal grain. Wheat ( Triticum spp is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant area of the Middle East. Traditional American cuisine uses ingredients such as turkey, white-tailed deer venison, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, and maple syrup, indigenous foods employed by Native Americans and early European settlers. A turkey is either of two extant Species of large Birds in the Genus Meleagris native to North America. The White-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus) also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized Deer found throughout Venison is the Culinary name for Meat from the family Cervidae. The potato is a Starchy Tuberous crop Vegetable from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae The sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas) is a Dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae Maize (ˈmeɪz ( Zea mays L. ssp mays) known as corn in some countries is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita native to the Mexico and Central America, also called marrows depending Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of Maple trees In Canada and the United States it is most often eaten with waffles and pancakes Slow-cooked pork and beef barbecue, crab cakes, potato chips, and chocolate chip cookies are distinctively American styles. barbeque block party Kansas cityjpg|thumb|right|275px|A barbecue on a trailer at a Block party in Kansas City. A Crab Cake is an American dish comprised of Crab meat and various other ingredients such as bread crumbs milk eggs yellow onions and seasonings A potato chip or crisp is a thin slice of Potato, deep fried or baked until Crisp. A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie from the United States that features Chocolate chips as its distinguishing ingredient Soul food, developed by African slaves, is popular around the South and among many African Americans elsewhere. Soul food is an American Cuisine, a selection of Foods and is the traditional cuisine of African-Americans of the Southern United States and of Syncretic cuisines such as Louisiana creole, Cajun, and Tex-Mex are regionally important. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought Louisiana Creole cuisine is a style of Cooking originating in Louisiana (centered on the Greater New Orleans area that blends French, See also [[Cajun]] Cajun cuisine (in French Cuisine cadienne) originates from the French-speaking Acadian or "Cajun" immigrants deported Tex-Mex is a term used primarily in Texas and the Southwestern United States to describe a regional American cuisine that blends Food products Characteristic dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrants. An apple pie is a fruit Pie (or Tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples (Cooking Apples Fried chicken (also referred to as Southern Fried chicken) is chicken which is dipped in a Breading mixture and then deep fried, pan Pizza (ˈpiːtsə, in Italian:) is a popular dish made with an Oven -baked flat generally round Bread that is covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based A hamburger (or burger) is a Sandwich consisting of a cooked ground Meat Patty, usually Beef, placed in a sliced bun or between A hot dog is a type of fully-cooked cured and/or smoked moist Sausage of soft even texture and flavor French fries, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos, and pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are widely consumed. French fries ( North American English; sometimes not capitalized chips ( British English) fries or French-fried potatoes (formal A burrito or taco de harina is a type of food found in Mexican and Mexican-American cuisine A taco ( is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a Maize or wheat Tortilla folded or rolled around a filling Pasta ( Italian for "dough" is a generic term for Italian variants of Noodles. ^[210] Americans generally prefer coffee to tea. Marketing by U. S. industries is largely responsible for making orange juice and milk ubiquitous breakfast beverages. Orange juice is a Fruit juice obtained by squeezing pressing or otherwise crushing the interior of an orange. Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the Mammary glands of female Mammals (including Monotremes. ^[211] During the 1980s and 1990s, Americans' caloric intake rose 24%;^[210] frequent dining at fast food outlets is associated with what health officials call the American "obesity epidemic. Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly " Highly sweetened soft drinks are widely popular; sugared beverages account for 9% of the average American's caloric intake. Soft drink is a beverage that does not contain Alcohol. Carbonated soft drinks are commonly known as soda soda pop pop, or ^[212]

Sports

Main article: Sports in the United States

Since the late nineteenth century, baseball has been regarded as the national sport; football, basketball, and ice hockey are the country's three other leading professional team sports. Sports in the United States are an important part of the national culture In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the All-star game of the National Football League (NFL American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with An all-star game is an Exhibition game played by the best players in their Sports league. Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each A national sport is a Sport or Game that is considered to be a intrinsic part of the culture of a Nation. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with Basketball is a team Sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a ball through a 10 feet (3 m Ice hockey, often referred to simply as hockey, is a team Sport played on Ice. College football and basketball also attract large audiences. College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies College basketball most often refers to the American Basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA Football is now by several measures the most popular spectator sport in the United States. A spectator sport is a Sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators or watchers at its matches ^[213] Boxing and horse racing were once the most watched individual sports, but they have been eclipsed by golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR. Boxing (sometimes also known as English boxing or pugilism) is a Combat sport in which two participants generally of similar weight, This article is about the sport For other uses see Horserace (drinking game or Horse race (politics. Auto racing (also known as automobile racing, motor racing or car racing) is a Motorsport involving Racing Cars It The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing ( NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of Stock cars in the United States. Soccer, though not a leading professional sport in the country, is played widely at the youth and amateur levels. Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered Tennis and many outdoor sports are also popular. Tennis is a sport played between two players ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles)

While most major U. S. sports have evolved out of European practices, basketball, volleyball, skateboarding, and snowboarding are American inventions. Volleyball is an Olympic team sport in which two teams of 6 active players (5 normal players and one 'libero' are separated by a net that is usually four feet Skateboarding is the act of riding and performing tricks using a Skateboard. Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a Snow -covered slope on a Snowboard attached to a participant's feet using a special boot set into a mounted binding Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact. Lacrosse is a full contact Team sport played using a solid rubber ball and long handled racket called a crosse or Lacrosse stick. Surfing is a surface water sport in which the participant is carried along the face of a breaking wave, most commonly using a Surfboard, although wave-riders Eight Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. The Olympic Games is an international Multi-sport event established for both summer and winter games The United States (USA has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games, except the 1980 Summer Olympics, which it boycotted The United States has won 2,191 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, more than any other country,^[214] and 216 in the Winter Olympic Games, the second most. The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an International Multi-sport event, usually quadrennial organised by the International The Winter Olympic Games are a winter Multi-sport event held every four years ^[215]

See also

• List of basic United States topics
• List of United States-related topics

References